But couldn’t he see that she needed him to ease the nightmares and strengthen the light? Couldn’t he see that he was her home?
Just when Pip was about to flee, Beau stunned her by getting up himself. She stopped breathing, certain he was about to do the walking away. Frantic with the fear of it. Frozen with the struggle of keeping her mouth shut.
And then, as if he were in the parlor of her parent’s house, he simply dropped to one knee.
Pip actually gasped.
He grinned. “I know. Miracles can be overwhelming.”
She couldn’t even find a sharp retort.
“So tell me, Brat,” he said, reaching up to take hold of her shaking hands. “You said I should come to you. You didn’t say what your answer would be.”
Pip pulled in a shaky breath. “There is only one way to find out.” She hated that her voice shook, too.
“In that case,” he said, clearing his throat, his hand cold in hers. Nervous?Beau?
“Phillipa Ellen Alexandra Trentham Knight, would you consent to be my wife?”
“Why?”
He all but reared back. “Why? Because I love you, you scrubby elf. Because I finally realized that what I love most about you is that you are fearless.”
She shook her head. “I wouldn’t be so confident about that.”
He smiled. “Let me correct that. You are courageous, because you fight for what you believe in. Even if that misbegotten clunch is me. You make me laugh, and you make me swear, and you make me impatient for what the rest of my life will become. Marry me, damn you, so I can get off the floor.”
Her giggle echoed from the glass even as more tears slid down her cheeks. “You could have saved your knees. It might have slipped your mind, but we already are married. By a bishop, no less.”
“That wasn’t any fun, though. This time, let’s have some fun.”
Pip was already delighted with his proposal. But the next moment set the seal on it. He lost his smile. He tightened his hold on her hands. He faced her like a man scaling a great wall. And then he said it. “Please.”
Pip did stop breathing then. She swore her heart stopped. How does one say no tothat?
She didn’t, of course. Pulling as hard as she could, she yanked him off the floor and back onto the bench, where her acceptance was punctuated with some of the most lovely kisses of her life.
“There is one more thing,” Beau murmured a little later as he stroked a hand along her arm.
“What’s that?”
He pulled back to look her in the eye, his own earth-brown eyes finally, thankfully, brimming with love. “An apology. I have been a coward, Pip. I’ve been too afraid to love you. It was too much, too…”
“Dangerous,” she said with a smile. “Because if you loved me you might lose me like Theo. You might. I might lose you. But I think what Theo taught us wasn’t to fear love, but to cherish it every moment we have it.”
Lifting his hand, Beau ran a finger gently down the side of her face. “I’m not certain whether I am going to be more intimidated by your courage or your wisdom.”
She grinned. “Kind of a surprise coming from an elf, isn’t it?”
“Not from this one.” And he rewarded her wisdom with more kisses of the very best kind.
It was quite a while after that they returned to the asylum to help the others sort things out.
EPILOGUE
“Are you sure this is what you want to do?”
The afternoon could have been nicer. A late autumn storm raged around the old walls of Delamere, rattling the windows and sending a hint of smoke from old fireplaces back into the rooms.
